Page:Tracks of McKinlay and party across Australia.djvu/67

 which they had afterwards to rectify as they proceeded northwards.

Emerging from this region of inundation in about 25° south latitude, an extensive country of high promise was passed through, consisting in a great degree of grassy plains, intersected by rivers, and bounded by hilly ranges. The abundance of water, indeed, suggests that this particular season may have been one of unusual moisture. The travellers were impeded by swamps, and while in the daytime the air was perfumed by the odour of innumerable flowers, in the night it was infested by still more numerous mosquitoes. Patches of scrub, too, were not unfrequent, and the ever-recurring spinifex grass indicated its accompanying poor soil. What appeared to be the dividing range of the country was passed about latitude 22°, a little further north than Stuart found it in his line of march, seven or eight degrees to the westward.

After passing the tropical line, and entering what is geographically tropical Australia, the aspect of the country does not greatly vary until quite near to the gulf. No country perhaps retains its similarity of feature throughout so great an area, and through so many degrees of latitude, as Australia. A change of country begins where the regular rains of a tropical season call forth a profuse vegetation, and create a more uniformly good soil than is found